


When First We Met

by Sorin



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 23:16:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5109137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorin/pseuds/Sorin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at events from Aymeric's point of view, beginning from his first meeting with the Warrior of Light. This story will contain spoilers, so if you haven't finished the MSQ in ARR/Heavensward, be warned!</p>
            </blockquote>





	When First We Met

Night has long since fallen by the time Ser Aymeric arrives at Camp Dragonhead.He doesn’t particularly like to show up during the day, since most people assume when he’s there that something bad has happened- or, worse, that there’s some sort of special occasion to be observed.Typically, his only motive is to visit his longtime friend, Lord Haurchefant- he doesn’t want or need attention paid to him otherwise.

He stifles a yawn as the two lounge in bed together, feeling quite satisfied and drowsy.It’s been a long day for him, as most are, and it’s been a couple of weeks since he’s managed to slip away and visit.He smiles a little as Haurchefant absently caresses his arm and looks over at him to find him smiling warmly.

“What?” he asks curiously.

“Hm?Nothing,” Haurchefant replies, stretching a little.“I’m just glad that you’re here for a little while.”

That brings Aymeric’s mind to exactly _why_ he’s there- he’s arranged a meeting with Alphinaud Leveilleur, who serves as the representative of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and is also the commander of the Crystal Braves.Aymeric isn’t entirely certain what that particular military body is aiming to accomplish, and he’s been keeping a somewhat wary eye on it ever since it was formed.He’s more open than most to outsiders, especially given his rank, and he figures a lot of that is due to the man who’s bed he’s currently sharing.Haurchefant is well-known for being widely accepting of more or less everyone, and while Aymeric is more withdrawn by nature, he can see where that trait would come in handy for a commanding officer at an important outpost such as this one.

Aymeric smiles back.“So am I,” he says honestly.“I only wish I could stay longer- or visit more often.”

Haurchefant winks at him.“All the more reason to make the most of the time you have,” he says teasingly.“I would certainly hate to squander any of it.”

That makes Aymeric laugh.Haurchefant, along with being well-known for being friendly, also doesn’t make it a secret in particular that he has a new lover every few days.“You speak as though you’ve encountered a dry spell,” he says, amused.

“Me?Never.”Haurchefant laughs and rises from the bed, going to fetch the pot of water he’d put on to boil before the two had decided that tea could wait.

Aymeric, being several shades more modest, pulls his trousers on before joining Haurchefant on the couch in front of the fireplace.The tea tastes good, and he makes a soft, pleased sound as he takes a sip.“It’s lovely,” he says, impressed.“Where did you come by this blend?”

Haurchefant shrugs.“A traveling merchant,” he replies, taking a sip of his own.“I first had it several weeks ago, and decided it was worth getting more- everyone here seems to like it.It’s something different, in any case, which is often welcome.”

That’s certainly true.Aymeric nods slightly and takes another sip, looking absently into the fire.“You know I’m only here at your behest,” he finally says softly.“I trust you a great deal, and even if this falls to ruin that will not change, but… it’s a bit unlike you to be quite _this_ welcoming of a group of outsiders.”

“And had they not done us the service they did, I wouldn’t be,” Haurchefant replies, shaking his head.“I tell you, Aymeric, there’s something downright _spectacular_ about the Warrior of Light, and I’m not just saying that because she’s a lovely woman.”

Aymeric gives him a wry look.“Or a reasonable lover?”

Haurchefant tries to look offended and fails.“She turned me down,” he says woefully, “but alas, that’s neither here nor there.”

_That_ is amusing, and Aymeric snorts faintly as he tries to hide a laugh by taking a sip of his tea.“Certainly not.I must admit, however, the idea of strengthening Revenant’s Toll is an appealing one… and, if there’s even a chance the Astrologians are correct about the dragon star…”

“I assure you, she’ll be able to handle whatever task you give her,” Haurchefant replies with a quick smile.“She may look somewhat fragile, but she’s proven that she is not.”

Aymeric shrugs.“That’s good, so long as she is also mentally sound,” he says.Haurchefant opens his mouth to protest, and Aymeric raises a hand to stop him.“I don’t mean that as an insult.I need her to be able to think as well as act in the moment.As soldiers, we are trained to await orders- and adventurers tend to be loose cannons, owing allegiance to nobody in particular.It is good that she’s affiliated with the Scions, but the Scions have a leader- and I need to know whether or not this Warrior of Light is capable of acting on her own without doing more damage than good.”

Haurchefant sighs and takes another sip of his tea.“I believe her to be,” he finally says.“She is quiet, preferring to watch and listen as opposed to speaking too much.It seems to me that she likes to look at things from multiple angles before choosing a course of action.She has visited several times of her own accord just to say hello and to help us as needed.”

“And you’re certain this isn’t due to the Scions constant badgering for us to rejoin the Eorzean alliance?” Aymeric asks, shaking his head.

“I am,” Haurchefant replies firmly, and Aymeric decides to tread no further- it’s clear that the lord of the camp has a great deal of respect for the Warrior of Light, and Aymeric can work with that.“In any case, what good would it do her to come here of all places?I certainly don’t have any influence in our government, nor do I wish for it.”

Aymeric pauses.“Well, you _are_ a son of one of the Great Houses,” he finally says- he could swear that sometimes, Haurchefant seems to conveniently forget his heritage.

Haurchefant sighs.“Yes,” he agrees, “and spectacularly well has that served me thus far.”It’s Aymeric’s turn to protest, and Haurchefant waves a hand and smiles faintly at him.“Half of Ishgard seems to think I traded on my family’s name to get to where I am and the other half doesn’t think I’m worthy of either, so again, I don’t think this would be her first choice in order to ascend.”

Much as he dislikes how much pain Haurchefant has gone through, Aymeric understands it intimately, and he nods slightly.“You’re right,” he replies, suitably chastised.“I apologize.”

“Worry not, my friend, I’m not offended.”Haurchefant’s smile brightens.“It _is_ good to know that a person finds you worthy of being around based on your worth as opposed to your name, however, which is one reason I invited her to bed in the first place.”He pauses, then grimaces.“Several times, actually.”

Aymeric laughs gently.“You can’t win them all,” he replies.“Perhaps you will, as time wears on.”He sets his mug of tea down and gives him a faint smirk.“Aside from that, _I_ hardly see you as lacking, so…”

“Ah, yes,” Haurchefant murmurs, putting his own mug down, pale blue eyes meeting dark.“How _did_ I manage to be so callous?”

“I’m sure you can make it up to me,” Aymeric says suggestively, and he laughs as Haurchefant rises and scoops him up off of the couch in one smooth motion.

The following morning, Aymeric finds himself at loose ends until Lucia arrives from Foundation.He greets her with a quick smile, and she salutes him.“Good morning, Lucia,” he says.“I trust all is well in the city?”

“It is, my lord,” Lucia replies with a smile in return.“All is quiet, thank the Fury for that.”She looks at Haurchefant and nods, her smile becoming fond.“Good morning to you as well, Lord Haurchefant.”

“My lady,” Haurchefant replies, sweeping her a bow that makes her roll her eyes in good humor.“I didn’t realize you were coming as well.”

Aymeric shrugs.“It seemed prudent,” he says.“As my second in command, Lucia has nearly as much authority as I do… and she will serve as my liaison to the Scions when I’m unavailable.”He looks at her, then at Haurchefant.“I do not want them to know how dire our situation is.”

Haurchefant frowns.“Aymeric…”

Aymeric shakes his head.“That is, for now, final,” he says.“They know we are at war with the Dravanians, and that is all they need to know.There is still a great deal of bad blood regarding the fact that we did not lend forces at Carteneau.I highly doubt anyone cares that the reasoning for that.”

Lucia crosses her arms.“We had nobody to spare,” she says flatly.“If they can’t understand something so simple, I’m not sure why we’re here at all.”

“The Scions seem to be more reasonable than the majority,” Aymeric says, his faint smile returning.“I hope they’ll be amicable to our terms.My goal is to prove their usefulness to the Holy See, but… they will undoubtedly see this as us aiming to use them to our own ends.”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing?” Haurchefant asks, still frowning.

Lucia shoots him a look.“If it is, it’s for the greater good of Ishgard,” she replies.

Aymeric stifles a sigh.“It _is_ in our best interest,” he agrees, “as having a strong presence at Revenant’s Toll is going to be a deterrent to an attack from the south.I am certain that Master Leveilleur is no fool and will recognize my offer for exactly what it is- and my hope is that he is not young and proud enough to refuse outright.”Haurchefant is still regarding him somewhat warily, and he softens a touch.The last thing he wants to do is alienate one of the very few good friends he has.“I promise, Haurchefant, I _do_ intend to use this to introduce the Scions to the Holy See.This is simply the best place to begin.”

Haurchefant relaxes a bit and nods.“I know.Forgive me if I seem skeptical.I suppose I am a bit concerned at the attitude toward outsiders that we’ve developed over time.”

“Have no fear.I’m here as a representative, but also for my own reasons.”Aymeric looks at Lucia, who nods, then looks back at Haurchefant.“If, Halone forfend, Midgardsormr is reborn… given the Warrior of Light’s ability to defeat primals- I’ve no doubt she’ll be able to handle it, as you’ve described her.That is going to go a very long way toward convincing the Archbishop that she and the Scions should be welcomed into Ishgard, and from there, perhaps discussions of rejoining the alliance can be opened.”

“We have plenty of hope,” Haurchefant replies.“I would trade it for some certainty.”He nods to the two of them.“I’ll escort the Warrior of Light and Master Alphinaud to the intercessory.You’re welcome to join us there when you’re ready.”

As he walks away, Lucia looks at Aymeric with a slight twist to her lips.“He’s too trusting,” she says quietly.“I fear that will end poorly for him.”

“He is,” Aymeric agrees, “but I find that to be one of his best qualities.”He looks at Lucia and smiles a little.“After all, had he not trusted the Warrior of Light enough to allow her into the Stone Vigil- and do not let him fool you, he enlisted her help to rescue Lord Francel de Haillenarte when he was accused of heresy first- we would not be here.”He frowns and crosses his arms, tapping his index finger on his forearm.“What concerns me at this moment is the increase of heretical activity… thus why I want the Scions keeping an eye on the Keeper of the Lake.I simply do not have the knights to spare.Aside from that, I’ve been keeping an eye on the Warrior of Light, though I led Haurchefant to believe I’ve been somewhat disinterested.I wanted his honest opinion.”

Lucia is quiet for a little while.“Well,” she finally says, “there’s no end to tasks we could set her to in Ishgard.I suppose anything is possible.”

Aymeric nods.“And so we shall see how things play out,” he says, gesturing for her to follow him.

When they enter the intercessory, he finds Haurchefant and the Warrior of Light standing with Alphinaud near the entryway.For a few seconds they all study each other, and then introductions and pleasantries are exchanged.As Haurchefant had told him the night before, the Warrior of Light doesn’t speak much- in fact, Aymeric observes, she doesn’t speak at all.She merely watches him with a calm expression that completely belies the storm in her gaze, and he realizes, after discreetly watching her from the corner of his eye while speaking with Alphinaud, that she is not someone to be taken lightly.

After a House Fortemps knight bursts in and interrupts the meeting to announce the attack on yet another caravan, Aymeric is quiet as he watches how Haurchefant and the others handle it, his own mind racing.Iceheart is becoming more and more of a thorn in his side, and it irks him that he’s going to have to figure out how to dispatch a unit of knights to support Haurchefant and his soldiers- not because he doesn’t want to help, but because his own men are already stretched so thin that they can barely withstand the Dravanian attacks.He resists the urge to sigh through clenched teeth, instead opting to wait and see what Alphinaud and the adventurer will do.

As expected, the two hurry off to handle the heretics- or at least try to- and Aymeric says a brief prayer to Halone that they’ll be able to do so without needing to involve the Temple Knights.Rational thought tells him that the prayer is more or less useless, and he’d be better off just wishing for the entire Horde to disappear.He feels a headache coming on, and he rubs at his forehead before looking at Lucia, who’d been silent throughout the meeting.

“Your thoughts?” he asks.

“They’re an interesting bunch,” Lucia says slowly, “though being an outsider myself, I don’t see that as a mark against them.I do wish the Warrior of Light had at least said _something._ ”

Aymeric can’t help but smile a little at that.He’d certainly taken a gamble when he’d kept Lucia in his service after finding out her true birth and allegiance, though she’d abandoned both in favor of Ishgard.“Nay, nor do I… at least, not yet.”He looks at Haurchefant, standing by the doorway and giving orders to one of his commanders, remembering the discussion they’d had the night previous.“If Haurchefant believes in her- and he certainly seems to- then so shall I.You’re right, however… she’s been silent thus far.That interests me further.”

Lucia nods in agreement, then sighs and looks at him with a wry smile.“Master Leveilleur certainly has a mouth on him,” she says.“He speaks boldly for one so young.”

“He’s had to grow up very quickly,” Aymeric murmurs.“He reminds me of myself at that age- young and full of a need to prove myself to the people who considered themselves my betters.I understand him, I think.”He rises and gestures toward the door.“Come, let us return to the city and await their report.I need to figure out how I’m going to steal from the poor to pay the utterly destitute.”

Lucia chuckles softly.“I’ve no doubt in your ability to figure it out,” she says, “but I’ll have the frontier reports on your desk shortly in any case so you can figure out exactly where to borrow men from.”

After briefly pausing to bid Haurchefant farewell, Aymeric and Lucia return to the Congregation to go about their duties.Aymeric shuts the door to his office and walks to his desk, then turns on his heel and heads for the fireplace and the kettle he keeps there.A mug of tea will help ward off the approaching headache, he thinks, and will also serve to keep him awake.It’s hard to sleep these days, knowing what’s potentially coming their direction… and the heretics could make all of it much, much worse.

Once his tea is done, he settles at his desk and starts going over the reports and numbers he has, figuring he’ll add Lucia’s into the mix shortly.

His door opening abruptly makes him look up with a raised eyebrow- even Lucia has the courtesy to knock, though really, she doesn’t need to do so unless instructed.When he sees who his visitor is, it’s everything he can do not to give into his instinctive reaction, which is to curl his lip in disdain.Instead, he sits back slowly, eying the knight warily.

“Ser Zephirin,” he says.“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Zephirin, commander of the Heaven’s Ward, walks to the middle of the room and crosses his arms.Aymeric has always had the impression that the man is looking down his nose at him, and that is certainly the case now, though he isn’t going to give him even _more_ of a reason to be over-inflated by rising in his presence.“I understand you’ve just returned from a meeting at Camp Dragonhead,” he says coolly.

Aymeric makes a mental note to tell Haurchefant that there’s an informant in his camp- although weeding them out would likely be an impossibility.He has no doubt that every man there is fiercely loyal to their lord, but that loyalty only goes so far when the Heaven’s Ward starts flashing their credentials around.“I fail to see why that’s of any interest, but yes, I did,” he replies calmly.

“You know exactly why it’s of interest,” Zephirin replies, a sharp frown appearing on his face.“Don’t play the fool, Aymeric, it doesn’t suit you.You know that there’s been a call to stop sending supplies to foreign powers, and yet you’re conspiring to continue with the bastard lord of House Fortemps?”

“I wouldn’t call it conspiring,” Aymeric replies, gratified to see Zephirin’s right eye twitch ever so slightly.“I would call it… a mutually beneficial arrangement.”He sits back and clasps his hands across his stomach.“I find it somewhat odd that the Heaven’s Ward is concerning itself with military matters.”

Zephirin sighs, as though dealing with an unusually stubborn- or stupid- child.“We concern ourselves with everything regarding the wellbeing of the Archbishop and the Holy See,” he says.“You would do well to remember that.We are knights as well, _Ser_ Aymeric.”

Aymeric has to clamp down on his temper.They _are_ knights, yes- a group of up-jumped arrogant highborns who parade around antagonizing anyone they see fit to do so without any risk of repercussions.“Certainly,” he agrees, “and being such, I’m sure you realize how important it is that we do not take unnecessary risks- one of which being the Astrologian’s recent prediction.”

He’s once again gratified to see a flicker of something that _isn’t_ arrogance cross Zephirin’s face.The man is lovely, having been born with the face of an angel- it’s too bad, Aymeric thinks, that he’s so horrifically ugly on the inside.“Be that as it may,” Zephirin says curtly, “you would do well to take care.You have enough enemies as it is.Consider this a friendly warning.”

“I appreciate it,” Aymeric says, his tone hinting that he absolutely does not.“If there’s nothing else, I’ve a war to manage.”

“See to it that we continue coming out on top, and there will be no need for concern,” Zephirin replies, his voice once again cool.“And, Aymeric- you should consider ceasing your dealings with these outsiders.The last thing you need is to be accused of consorting with heretics.”

Aymeric watches Zephirin walk out of his office and takes a slow breath to calm himself.By the _Fury,_ but he hates that man.

Lucia sticks her head in a moment later, then walks in with the reports she’d promised.“You don’t look overly thrilled at your surprise visitor’s presence,” she observes.

“I would prefer Nidhogg himself pay me a personal visit,” Aymeric replies dryly, rubbing at his forehead again before taking a drink of his tea.“Is there anything else that’s come up?”

“No, my lord,” Lucia replies.“Things have continued to be quiet.I’ll await a report from Lord Haurchefant on the situation with the supplies and update you as soon as there’s something of substance to work with.”

Aymeric nods.“Good,” he says.“Thank you, Lucia.”Once she’s gone and he’s alone in his office again, he lets his mind drift back to the meeting he’d had that morning and the Warrior of Light.She’d sat silently throughout the whole thing, and one might have thought she wasn’t paying attention if they only glanced at her occasionally- but Aymeric had felt her watching him closely and knew she was making his measure, as it were.He frowns to himself, hoping that he can rely on Haurchefant’s instincts and experience, then forces himself to his task.There’s no doubt he’ll need to divert at least one unit to Coerthas- it’s just a matter of when.All he can do is hope it will be later than sooner.

 

**Author's Note:**

> /rubs hands together gleefully
> 
> I finally got an idea for another chaptered work! :D
> 
> I'm not really looking to re-tell the original story in its entirety here, so most events and dialogue are going to either be glossed over or paraphrased. We know how the story goes from the Warrior of Light's perspective, of course, and this time I'm aiming to show it from Aymeric's- which is going to involve some creative licensing.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!


End file.
